I’m Suzy Barker. I love to write and I adore photography. Oh, and I should mention – I’m an eternal optimist. My cup is always half full. Welcome to my website.

January Dreams

January can be the bleakest month. The Christmas holiday season is over and everyone is back to work and school. It would be easy to believe that this rain is never going to stop. I’m watching a pair of pheasants perching on a log in the field; they don’t appear to mind the rain one bit.

I’m really tempted to search online and bag a few rays of winter sunshine; there’s little wonder that travel companies do so well with bookings at this time of year. In my mind’s eye I can see a soft, sandy beach, I can feel the warmth of the sun on my back, I can hear the gentle lapping of warm waves.

Teatime fish and chips on the beach

Summer seaside waves

Taking in the sea air

Seaside ice cream van

Seaside buckets and spades

Barefoot on the beach

Then my phone rings. It’s a company on the line that wants to pay us good money to find the products they are looking for to process in their business. And suddenly my feet are firmly back on the floor. I go to make a mug of tea, trundle back to my desk and crack on.

Back in the real world, I know that this is not the best time for us to take a holiday. And the dog would need to be booked into kennels and we would have to find someone to take care of the chickens …

Having given myself a good talking to, I flick through some summer time snaps from last year to recall some brightness and warmth, and know that in just a few short weeks from now we’ll be enjoying spring time sunshine once again.

For anyone January dreaming today of blue skies and sunshine I’d like to share a small slice of my English summer time.